Latino Daily News

Mexico to Sell National Telecom Network to Private Company

The government plans to auction off the 25,000-kilometer (15,534-mile) telecommunications network owned by the Federal Electricity Commission, or CFE, to a private company, Mexican Communications Undersecretary Jose Ignacio Peralta Sanchez said.

The CFE’s network will be transferred to state-owned Telecomunicaciones de Mexico, or Telecomm, which will auction it off, Peralta said in a statement released by the Communications and Transportation Secretariat.

The government previously tried to sell the CFE’s fiber-optic network in 2010, when it sought a telecommunications company that would acquire the network and offer Internet, data and video service.

The CFE’s license to provide telecommunications services will be transferred to Telecomm, a move approved by Congress, Peralta said in an address to the national telecommunications convention.

The CFE, which generates and distributes electricity, will exit the telecom business, Peralta said.

The goal is to expand the fiber-optic network to cover 98 percent of Mexico’s population, a project that will require a large investment, the official said.